Not Expected, but Not Unpleasant
by Dr. Jeremiah
Summary: Jeremie and Aelita are going through a spat. When Aelita breaks it off, Jeremie becomes more sequestered than normal. Can any of the Lyoko Warriors rescue him from this self imposed exile? YxJ fluff.


_**While browsing Fan Fiction as I do each day, (one of the perks of your school providing a laptop,) I noticed a large lack in JéremíexYumi fluff fic. So I have set about to rectify this, in the first person, which is quite the fun style to write in. while I normally write JxA, I thought that I might write something to appeal to a smaller demographic. Also, you have no idea how hard it is to write your favorite couple breaking up realistically, you don't want to make either character look like a jerk, but you kinda have to facilitate the secondary pairing you are trying to write.**_

_**Not Expected, but Not Unpleasant.**_

The morning was cold, far colder than normal. I jogged down the sidewalk, wishing that I had thought to bring my winter jacket. Kadic was still a bit of a walk, and the frigid wind did very little to improve my disposition. It was Monday, and I had had to put up with my Mother and Father fighting over the weekend. Hiroki was ill, and Ulrich was more distant than usual, probably due to problems with his own family. Odd was as annoyingly happy as ever, but the purple clad buffoon nevertheless got on my nerves. Aelita and Jéremíe were going through a spat, an XANA attacked far more frequently than normal. Nerves were frayed, and tempers on a hair trigger.

Finally, I entered the school building, heading up the stairs for Hertz's class. Jéremíe and Aelita sat in front of me, and the two talked softly, though neither looked happy with the other. I frowned at this. Jéremíe was constantly working on the antivirus, day and night, and Aelita could actually be angry with the boy genius. Offhand, I wondered what they were fighting about. I resolved to ask Aelita after class, and having decided this, I settled back to take notes on whatever it was that we were doing in this class. I grimaced. XANA attacks really did a number on my grades, due to the constant late nights, and lack of concrete study time. I struggled to pay attention, but my mind kept wandering to the growing distance between the members of the group. This could be a potentially dangerous thing, due to the way that XANA had exploited conflict before. I decided that I would call a meeting of the team this afternoon. Whether or not it would do any good was a different question entirely.

Finally, class ended, and I quickly chased Aelita down before she could disappear into the crowd. She greeted me warmly, but with a hint of distance that I had not noticed before.

"Aelita," I said brusquely, "what exactly is going on between you and Jéremíe?"

"Nothing." Said Aelita shortly. "Nothing at all."

Aelita began to walk away, but I stopped her. She tried to push past me, but I stood my ground.

"Normally, you too never have even a slightly harsh word for each other. What happened to change that?"

Aelita looked at me as if she was going to try and make a break for freedom again, but then she relented.

"He told me about someone named Taelia today." Aelita frowned angrily. "Apparently my only defining feature to him is the fact that my hair is pink."

I frowned. "You're just jealous of the fact that Jéremíe fell for someone else, and some that he thought was you to boot. Aelita, that's unreasonable."

"Regardless, we tried to talk it out, and we both said things that we regret. He and I will continue to collaborate for Lyoko's sake, but romantically, he and I are through."

My heart skipped a beat. I knew that they were angry with each other, but I had never imagined Aelita and Jéremíe permanently separating. Me, Odd and Ulrich had a betting pool on when they would get married for pities sake. Aelita brushed past me as she started towards her next class, leaving me in shock in the center of the hallway.

I decided to go find Jéremíe, and get his end of the story. I checked into my next class, a study hall, and went to find the boy genius. A far as any of us knew, most of his classes were so high level that he took them online. The only things really stopping him from graduating were his abysmal PE scores, but there was no way he was going to bring those up if it meant abandoning us to XANA. I knew that he would be in his room, but considering his often emotional state, I had no idea what condition he would be in. I knocked softly on his door, and was greeted by a bitter shout to "go away." I tried to turn the door handle, but it was locked from the inside. I knocked again, this time adding my voice to my attempt to get inside.

"Jéremíe, I am not going away. I expect you to open the door, and not keep me waiting."

Inside, I heard the creak of springs as Jéremíe got up and then a click as he unlocked the door. It swung open and I saw Jéremíe. He had obviously been crying, but he seemed more in control of himself now. The room was dark, and the curtains closed. The only light came from the hallway, and the pale blue glow of his computer monitor. All of my own concerns faded away. Jéremíe was a mess, and the boy needed to be comforted. I took him by the arm and sat him down on his bed.

Yumi entered my room. She had a look on her face that told me she had already spoken to Aelita. I thought that she would be mad, but she made me sit down. Facing me, she asked for my side of the story. I told her in brief, how Aelita and I had argued, and how both of us had made some tasteless comments. I told how when I had tried to apologize, she had ignored my attempts. At this, my attempts to be strong collapsed. My vision was obscured with tears, and I leaned against the wall, cursing myself for appearing weak in front of Yumi. I was pathetic. Yumi placed a hand on my shoulder, and I broke completely. Then, something happened that I had not expected. Yumi wrapped me in a hug, and let me cry. Neither of us said anything, but just having support was enough for me. Finally, I sat up, in control of myself once more. I stood, but Yumi stayed seated. She looked at me, and then spoke,

"Jéremíe, if you ever need anything, remember that you can talk to me, anytime."

I smiled, but resolved not to burden Yumi with my personal problems. She picked up on this, and warned me,

"If you keep stuff to yourself, and I find out, I will make you tell me. I will not be happy if you keep bottling stuff up instead of talking about. Trust me, just sitting and talking can do wonders for something that's bothering you."

I nodded, taking her advice to heart. I hesitated for a moment, still awkward with this side of Yumi. Then I asked,

"Do you think you could come back here, after classes? I have some stuff that I need to talk about."

Yumi nodded,

"Okay, just keep the door unlocked."

I smiled, telling her that I would.

As she turned to leave, I called after her. When she turned, I called after her.

"Yumi, thank you for everything, I needed to be able to just vent for a while."

As I left Jéremíe's room, I thought about what he had said about Aelita. He had tried to make amends, and she had shut him down. Jéremíe was a great kid, and talking with him had made me start to evaluate my relationships with the rest of our group. Our short talk had felt different than anything that I had shared with Ulrich, more real, and more emotional. I frowned, shaking my head, my emotions in turmoil.

The hallway was bright with sunlight, and I saw Ulrich ahead. Even framed in flattering light like he was now, for some reason my heart didn't jump like it usually did. Ulrich just seemed too stoic in comparison to Jéremíe, who was emotional and trusting. I knew that Ulrich would never spill the contents of his heart to me, no matter how close we became. I frowned, and reversed the path that I was walking, wanting to be alone with my thoughts. Could I be falling in love with Jéremíe Belpois?

Could I be falling in love with Yumi Ishiyama? I sat in my room, the light back on, working on a history project, but my mind was miles away, thinking over my relationship with my group of friends. I had thought that I loved Aelita, but now I thought, could it just have been infatuation based on being each other's sole point of contact for so long? It was an odd feeling, to be in conflict like this. I decided to wait until later this afternoon, when Yumi would return. I sighed. That was going to be difficult. She said that I needed to talk, but I had often let my feelings bottle up, to be released, like they had this afternoon. Some part of me told me that it was unhealthy, but talking about emotion was not something I was good at. Maybe actually talking about how I felt now would allow me to corral my feelings. I looked forward to her visit. My mind slightly clearer now, I turned back to my laptop, and began to finish my class work.

True to my promise, but not a little apprehensive, I approached Jéremíe's room. I knocked softly, and he called for me to come in. the first thing I noticed was the light was on, and the curtains were open. Apparently I had succeeded in pulling him out of his depression. He sat on his bed, but rose when I stepped inside. He seemed better, which was good. He motioned for me to sit down on the bed, while he sat in the hardback computer chair. I smiled, not sure how to react to this. He was such a gentleman. We sat in awkward silence for a moment, and then we began to talk. First, I asked Jéremíe to talk about Aelita, and to not be shy about what he was feeling.

He began to talk, and he told me about how much he had loved her at first sight, and how he had assumed that she felt the same way. His tale took a turn for the melancholy, and he told me how he thought that it had been nothing but childish infatuation, spurred by lack of contact with anyone else. Jéremíe looked crushed, and I put a hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly, as if not fully used to physical contact. I frowned, and pulled the blond haired boy closer. He relaxed slightly, and I began to run my fingers through his hair. He sat next to me on the bed, obviously completely unsure how to deal with this. Jéremíe was blushing madly.

"Yumi," he hissed, "what are doing."

I smiled at him. He was so cute.

"I've been thinking," I answered, "and I like you. A lot. You're able to actually talk about the way you feel. Granted you need someone to talk to, but that's more than Ulrich can say. You're intelligent, devoted, and hard working."

Jéremíe frowned, and I mentally kicked myself for mentioning Ulrich. However, the blond's next question completely threw me off guard.

"Yumi, are you saying that you love me?"

As soon as he said this, he lowered his head, blushing bright enough to light the room, had the lights been off. To his credit, he had managed to ask without passing out. Sure that the blush I was sporting could be seen through walls; I put an arm around his shoulder, and pulled him closer to me.

Yeah, Jéremíe, I think I am. Having said this, I let my apprehensions go, and kissed him.

I, Yumi Ishiyama, had just kissed Jéremíe Belpois.

I had just been kissed by Yumi Ishiyama. This was not expected. It was not unpleasant however, and I was mostly worried about how Ulrich would react. None of that was important right now though, what mattered was Yumi. Summoning all of my courage, I kissed her back. She didn't seem to mind, and it was a nice feeling. Finally, we broke for air.

"Yumi," I asked, "Ulrich is going to kill me, isn't he?"

"Not if I have anything to do about it,"

I lay back, resting my head on my pillow. Yumi scooted back on the bed, and lay next to me. She wrapped me in a hug, and we lay there for a while. This was nice. I didn't want this to end, but it had too. it was almost curfew. I turned to Yumi, and told her the time. To my surprise, she didn't move.

"I think I'd rather stay here tonight, Jéremíe."

I nodded, too stunned to do anything else.

I was currently sharing a bed with Yumi Ishiyama. This had the potential to end very badly, but right now, I don't think I minded.

_**A/N Wow. That was really hard to write. You set out to write quick drabble fic, and end up writing over two thousand words. I had to restrain myself from poking some fun at Ulrich here, but I managed. That's the main reason I prefer JxA to UxY, less drama. I don't think I'll be writing YxJ for a long while. Hope you all enjoy this one.**_

_**Dr. Jeremiah.**_


End file.
